


Creature Comforts

by Hemogobbler



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Being gay is the answer, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Shadow Weaver tries to do something nice, Skin EVERYWHERE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 20:47:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17352323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hemogobbler/pseuds/Hemogobbler
Summary: Rogelio is shedding, and is generally having a bad time of it. Kyle undertakes a solo quest to the Horde library in an effort to learn what works best to ensure your lizard bf has a good, clean shed.





	Creature Comforts

Kyle stood in line at the Horde command base’s only library. While there wasn’t an extensive collection of literature, Hordak, for whatever reason, saw fit to provide the cadets with enough obscure topics to keep them varied in their knowledge.

 

He held a copy of ‘Caring for Your Reptiles: From Corn Snakes to Lizardmen.’ Kyle couldn’t believe his luck. It was a very well organised selection of non-fiction; there were rumors a captured princess was involved in the collection and distribution of books throughout the Fright Zone. Kyle didn’t know any princesses, but thought it sounded like a nice thing to do for people.

 

Hot breath scalded Kyle’s neck, but he had no plans to turn around and ask for more space. He knew the rhino-man huffing impatiently behind him wouldn’t appreciate it. In front was an equally-imposing great owl of a lady whose head would periodically swivel around one-eighty degrees to see how the queue behind was developing.

 

Kyle looked away from her precise, dissecting yellow eyes and saw she held a copy of ‘One-hundred Unlikely Places to Hunt Mice,’ a piece Kyle knew was written by Catra, his feline squadmate, and was certain never reached one-hundred entries. Even more confusing was how it made it to publish, but, before he could think any more on it, he was at the front desk.

 

“Returning?” The librarian asked, bored. She was a spectacled human woman with black hair. Well-spoken, with an accent he couldn’t place, Kyle got the impression that she was overqualified for the position. Her desk was littered with her own collection of books, mostly gothic fiction.

 

“Uh - no, taking out, please,” Kyle stammered.

 

“Card,” She stated simply. Kyle searched his pockets for his library card, which contained a record of everything he had ever taken out of the library, as well as the precise times of return.

 

He couldn’t find it in his left pocket, and tried his right. His hands grew sweaty as the irritated groans of his peers pressured him further. It was not in his right pocket, either. His face grew red, and he thought of those who had exams, or those who might be handing back finished work on deadline day, that he was now holding up. The librarian looked at him with the same impassive eyes she had with everyone, but Kyle knew she would much rather be serving someone else. He eventually found it in the book he was taking out, a measure he had initially hoped would make the whole transaction smoother, but promptly forgot about.

 

She took it and swiped the card on the machine connected to her computer. After a few seconds of well-practiced word-skimming, she rolled her eyes. Kyle thought he saw, beyond her usual apathetic look, a flash of alarm, just barely contained.

 

“You have yet to return ‘One Day at a Time: Simple Steps and Exercises to Grow Your Confidence and Alleviate Anxiety.’ It’s been four months. Do you have it?”

 

Another gust of breath from behind nearly knocked Kyle over as he scrambled, distressed and flustered, to answer.

 

“N-no, but I know where it is! I can - ”

 

She interrupted him, and Kyle suddenly found himself pushed to the side by some kind of unseen force that was distinctly magical, leaving him tingly and slightly motion sick.

 

“Because of how long it has been, I’m required to contact an administrator. They will be with you shortly to discuss the situation,” She pressed a button underneath her desk and cleared her throat, calling the next person forth.  

 

Kyle rubbed his arm nervously. He was thankful; overjoyed, really, with relief now that he was no longer in the way, but had no idea what to expect as punishment for his overdue book. He should have brought it back a long time ago, but felt that, slowly, it was helping him feel less like an alien.

 

A frighteningly cold shiver ran through Kyle’s body, which he recognised immediately. The other cadets felt it, too, judging by the sudden silence that overtook the room. A mass of swirling, ravenous black appeared in the center of the library. Magical tendrils shot out from the void on the floor and swept aside whoever was unlucky enough to be stood in the way of the portal. From it rose the figure of a powerful, angry, but ultimately confused, mage. Shadow Weaver.

 

“Cereza,” Shadow Weaver nodded at the librarian, who returned the gesture. “I can honestly say I do not recall why this measure was implemented. Why was I summoned?” The librarian aimed a glance at Kyle, and Shadow Weaver followed it. His hands shook, but he stood to attention all the same, back straight and head upright just as he had been taught. He saluted suddenly as Shadow Weaver locked eyes with him. Many recruits’ names were lost on Shadow Weaver, but not this one.

 

“Kyle. _You_ are why I was distracted from siege preparations?”

 

Kyle said nothing; could say nothing.

 

“ _You_ , are why I am here, instead of gathering intel on Bright Moon, or searching for traces of Mystacor?”

 

The other cadets were watching the exchange now, and even Cereza herself was distracted from her duties as Shadow Weaver’s voice lost composure. The dark mage breathed in and out slowly - Kyle’s silence working to his advantage as her fury died down.

 

“Very well,” She said. A sense of professionalism took over her, perhaps satisfied with a straightforward task, for once. Her projection leaned closer to him. “You wish to take out a book, but have yet to return a previous loan?”

 

“Yes ma’am!” Kyle near-shouted, desperate for this conversation to end just as he was sure Shadow Weaver was. “I forgot about the old one, I’m really sorry, but I can get it back by today, I swear!”

 

Shadow Weaver’s eyes glowed red as she peered into the Black Garnet, wherever its corporeal form lay.

 

“It is under your bed,” She said, her voice amplified so that it shook the bookshelves around her. “I see it.” Her eyes returned to their usual sharp white shapes. “Is this next book also an attempt at raising your self-esteem?”

 

Kyle shook his head frantically, “No ma’am, this is for Rogelio.”

 

Behind the shadows of her mask, the glaring white eyes squinted.

 

“Uhh… green lizard guy? Doesn’t talk, like, at all?”

 

Her eyes burst open at once, “Adora’s squadmate? Yes, quite the hardy fellow, I believe.”

 

Kyle nodded excitedly, “Yeah! He’s, uh, shedding his skin, and it’s taking a while and - and it’s really uncomfortable. He can’t take part in any training, and doesn’t want to leave the dorms. I just thought if I could speed it up he’d be back to normal… or, even stronger! Apparently once they shed lizards are a whole lot better at just about everything!”

 

“Interesting,” Shadow Weaver said, genuinely. “Then I see no reason to hold you up any longer. This is an admirable thing you do, aiding your teammate in the pursuit of power,” Shadow Weaver reached out a hand to clasp Kyle’s shoulder, but changed her mind mid-way, and pulled it back. She gave one last look at the book Kyle held as shadows wrapped around the form of her projection.

 

“But remember this as a generous act I do, Kyle.” His head lit up with nightmarish visions, and her voice came in waves. “If you do not return your self-help book, I will drag you, kicking and screaming, to the chamber of the Black Garnet. And there, you will not need help. You will not want for anything ever again.”

 

 

* * *

  


Kyle’s walk back to the dorms was troubled, to say the least. The threat of Shadow Weaver was omnipresent; the cadets could sometimes feel her watching them in their last moments before falling asleep, but it was much scarier when she had a specific target.

 

Kyle had been kept safe by virtue of being Adora’s squadmate, but he had to wonder how long that might last. He wasn’t strong, like her and Lonnie, or fast, like Catra. Whatever smarts he had seemed to have little practical application in fighting. He would doubt himself constantly, seeing the worst of himself and the best in others always.

 

Like Rogelio, who would always put others before himself. In combat trials, Rogelio would shield those most vulnerable, which usually meant Kyle, from sudden attacks that would otherwise disorient the squad. In was in these times Kyle managed to prove himself, using the few seconds of awareness given to him to call out enemy numbers, approximate strength, and recommended defensive formations. It was about all he could do before Adora and Lonnie would charge in, with Catra flanking from unseen corners. Rogelio, though, would always be right by his side. It made Kyle feel like he could take on the world.

 

The reptile currently lay on his bed, curled around himself. His skin was dulled, a pasty blue that clung tightly, near-suffocating, to his whole body. He kept his head buried into his legs, the noises from his dorm-mates too much for his ears in their sensitive state. He breathed slowly, reserving strength.

 

Kyle’s heart broke at the sight. He couldn’t take seeing him as vulnerable as himself. Kyle was glad he went to the library, happy to endure all the flippant jabs and remarks that Rogelio would usually defend him from. All the scorn in the world was worth helping the poor lizard through this.

 

“I actually found something,” Kyle said, as surprised as Rogelio who, looking up at the boy, smiled. It was the first time Kyle had saw him smile in the days that he had been trying to shed. Rogelio quickly retreated into the darkness of his knees as Kyle studied the book.

 

The lizardmen section was, thankfully, concise, and only came with a few steps towards creating a more hospitable environment for a reptile who was ‘in blue’. Firstly, was to reduce the amount of background noise that would be assaulting Rogelio's senses.

 

Kyle tried to convince his dorm-mates and other squadrons to vacate the area, if only for a few hours, but they would have none of it. He suggested the training room, or that he would cover extra rations for them in the cafeteria, and proposed an excursion to the outskirts of the base where new magical creatures were being discovered daily. They would have none of it.

 

Kyle would not give up. He had another plan: two girls who managed to draw attention wherever they went. He asked, and then begged on Catra’s reluctance, for her and Adora’s aid in drawing the recruits from their beds to the courtyard.

 

“You were literally JUST telling me about how you were going to pay Octavia back for that fight like… what, six years ago? C’mon, Catra, if you’re gonna scratch her other eye out, you might as well do it for Rogelio,” Adora was holding Catra’s hand, eager for just one selfless act for the good of the squad.

 

Catra pulled her hand away, “Easy for you to say. Shadow’s Weaver’s not gonna be breathing down your neck when a riot breaks out.”

 

Adora considered for a moment, and smiled. “I’ll throw the first punch.”

 

Catra raised an eyebrow, and grabbed the Adora’s hand with gusto, the pair running to the tentacled woman’s patrol route as fast as they could.  

 

It didn’t take long before the cadets in Kyle’s dorm heard the news of a fight outside. They rushed out, already taking bets on who’d win, or how long the pair would last until someone intervened. Kyle used this time to enact step two: adjusting the lighting.  

 

He closed the curtains, shuttered the blinds, shut all the doors and draped a canopy made of towels around him and Rogelio’s bunk. The quiet darkness made the lizard feel safe, who began to breathe soft and contentedly. Kyle was thrilled he could pay back what Rogelio had offered him over the years, in some small way.

 

Kyle sat down next to Rogelio, cloaked in darkness, as he read aloud the third and final point that the book could offer him.

 

“The right humidity is crucial to a clean shed. While the inclusion of specific plants or moss-filled hides may help increase the amount of moisture our reptile friends need, a general misting of their habitat - that is to say, a good spray of warm water - is often more than enough to speed along the shedding process.”

 

As Kyle was chewing this over in his mind, he felt a claw press softly against his back. Kyle turned to see Rogelio holding the edge of his blanket, his own conclusion to the book already made up.

 

Rogelio, with deliberate slowness, raised the sheet of the bed in which he resided, and looked at Kyle with cloudy, but affectionate eyes. Rogelio still looked pained, the old dead skin constricting his form and leaving him unwilling to move any further, but the quiet had helped immensely.

 

Kyle lay down next to the lizard, already sweating, and Rogelio pulled him into his broad chest in an instant. Rogelio buried his snout into Kyle’s neck, the warmth heating his cold blood and loosening the patches of scales around his face.

 

Kyle melted into his embrace, feeling the stress that was the whole library encounter fall away like an old coat of skin. Rogelio held him with such tenderness that Kyle forgot he was trying to sweat as much as he could. Sweating was normally so natural for Kyle, but Rogelio never made him feel embarrassed. They both simply waited as the shared heat forced the droplets from the blonde boy’s hair.

 

Rogelio ran a hand through Kyle’s hair and wrapped a tail around his leg. In response, Kyle kissed the lizard’s neck and chin, going ever-upwards until they met eyes and Kyle was kissing Rogelio’s nose lightly.

 

Rogelio licked Kyle’s cheeks with a long forked tongue, which made him giggle and nuzzle into Rogelio further. Rogelio took off his shirt as the warmth began to have the desired effect, and encouraged Kyle to do the same. The initial touch of Rogelio’s cold skin sent a tiny wave of pleasure throughout Kyle’s body as the big lizard spooned him.

 

Soon, large pieces of skin would peel away from the Rogelio and cling to Kyle, patch by patch. Kyle found it highly unsettling, to begin with, but soon Rogelio’s little sighs of relief grew into great deep breaths that pressed against Kyle’s body further. Rogelio was evidently grateful as his arms wrapped around the blonde boy’s chest with outstanding strength and gentleness. The muscles that guarded Kyle regained their fresh green look, and seemed bigger now that his arms had broken free of their old skin.

 

Eventually, the lizard pulled away, leaving a torso-shaped mass of skin bigger than Kyle himself stuck to his back. Rogelio pushed it away and left it outside the bed, a pile of skin flourishing down on the floor.

 

Turning the boy around with ease, Rogelio planted a kiss on Kyle’s lips. He scrunched up his face as the lizard withdrew, leaving behind a few loose scales on his mouth. Rogelio laughed and wiped them away, pulling Kyle’s bottom lip down carefully and trying again. It was a firmer, longer, and much cleaner. Before they parted, Kyle saw in Rogelio’s eyes the old spark of vitality return - no longer cloudy, and bright with pleasure.

 

Kyle’s own eyes were faraway. It was a dream; he was overwhelmed by the love that he felt shouldering his worries, lending him strength. Rogelio couldn’t resist taking his face in his claws and smushing his snout against his cheeks - there was so much compassion in the boy's tiny frame that Kyle had yet to acknowledge, but Rogelio was determined to help him realise it, one day at a time. 

 

Rogelio threw an arm over Kyle, but instead of embracing him further, he pointed outside the enclosed bed in the direction of the showers. Kyle nodded, caressed the lizard’s face, and sat up, sticky with flakes of skin that weren’t his. It was a good time for a break, he thought, but there was still plenty to go.

**Author's Note:**

> OOPS! MY HAND SLIPPED AND I MADE A SKIN FETISH. OOPS, SORRY! (not sorry)
> 
> TY to everyone for reading! <3 Comments, kudos and bookmarks are my best friend squad so please feel free! <3


End file.
